one choice can change a life
by cross4m3
Summary: they say one choice can change an entire life. a young girl is faced with just such a choice on her first train ride to hogwarts. will she let her fears dictate her actions or will she brush them aside to create a better future for everyone? ch 2 up soon
1. Chapter 1

**disclaimer: i don't own any of the characters the only thing that i thought of on my own is the story prompt for this piece**

She looked through the compartment door and saw him sitting there, looking small, lonely and quite pathetic in his shabby muggle clothing. In that moment a dozen thoughts flew through her mind.

_What if he's just like the stories? _

_What if he isn't? _

_What if he's a stuck up jerk and refuses to talk to me? _

_What if the rumors are true and he's the next Dark Lord just waiting to ascend?_

_What if he's nothing like that and I'm pre-judging him just like a pure blooded bigot? _

_What if he's just lonely? What if he just needs a friend? _

_What if this is the chance of a lifetime and I'm about to pass it up because I'm afraid of rejection? _

_Will he like me?_

_Will he push me away like a spoiled brat? _

_Will we even be in the same house at school?_

_Does it really matter?_

_Am I brave enough to walk up to a lonely boy without any friends and risk rejection by saying hello?_

She ignored all but the last question, to which she answered:_Yes I am._

She gathered her courage and did the bravest thing she had ever done in her short life. She opened the door and walked in. As she entered the nearly empty compartment she said,more confidently than she felt, "Hi, I'm Susan Bones, can I sit here?" And in that moment her entire destiny changed. No longer was she destined to be the shy Hufflepuff relegated to a supporting role in the coming months and years of war and hardship for the wizarding world.

She was now and forevermore Susan Bones, best friend and companion of Harry Potter through all of his trials and tribulations for the next seven years and beyond.

-scene break-

**Harry and Susan's point of view**

Harry saw her hesitate for a couple of seconds out in the hallway before entering the compartment.

He knew how famous he was in this world, and he knew that a modest amount of hero worship was to be expected, he had already experienced it in the form of the patrons of the leaky cauldron on the day he went shopping for school supplies. By his reasoning the children of his new world should have at least twice the reaction that he had gotten from the adults, and yet not much had really happened on the platform nor had it happened yet on the train, other than those twins' reactions. He fully expected their younger brother to show up at some point, after their over-affectionate mother was finished with him of course.

And now here was this girl just walking in and introducing herself like nothing interesting had happened, she certainly didn't seem to care that he was hailed as the savior of the wizarding world before he was even two years old. In that moment all of his thoughts and plans on how to respond to his hero-worshiping fan-girls went out the window, at least where this girl was concerned. But just to be sure that his last month spent locked in a dark bedroom wasn't completely wasted he decided to test her once to be sure he was right. After she introduced herself he responded in his best James Bond voice, "Hello Susan, My name is Potter, Harry Potter."

She giggled a little to herself and answered, "Okay Potter, Harry Potter, can I sit here or not?"

"Sure, you passed my test, so be my guest." then laughed a little at his unintentional rhyme scheme.

He was surprised to find Susan laughing with him.

He stopped laughing and started to wonder about this strange girl sitting across from him.

"Susan, can I ask you a question?"he asked tentatively. She nodded and replied, "sure Harry ask away."

"Why are you so different?" she gasped a little at his abrubt and slightly rude question. But thankfully he realized what he had done and quickly corrected himself. "What I mean is: why didn't you swoon or run away form me or act like a hero-worshiping fan-girl when you saw me? What's so different about you that prevented one of those reactions? That's all I expected to get from everyone I saw at school for at least a month."

She pondered that question for a moment before answering.

"There's a very simple answer to your question Harry, but it comes with a long story that I don't want to get into at the moment in case we get interrupted so you'll have to settle with the short version for the moment."

She took a deep breath and continued, "Put into simplest terms, you and I are members of the same club, the club nobody wants to be in."

Harry was slightly perplexed at this, the Dursley's never let him do anything, let alone join a club, not even one that nobody wants to be in! Susan paused in her explanation to let the ramifications sink in, but seeing his confused face she decided to explain further.

"The club is one nobody wants to be in because somebody you know and care for has to die in order for you to get in. Both of us are in a special part of the club because both of us are orphans. I know your whole story Harry. Not the one that the rest of the world knows, I know the real one. The one where a fifteen month-old baby is left alone in the world with relatives he hardly knows to grow up without his parents, and he can't even remember them enough to be able to feel bad about it." she started tearing up as she said these things.

When she began to cry harry had no idea what to do, so he did the only thing a ten year-old boy could do, he started panicking. Until he remembered a day several years ago when another girl had been crying in the park near his house. She was sitting on a bench and a woman was hugging her. It occurred to him that maybe he should hug this girl, even though they had met barely five minutes ago. He moved to sit next to her and tentatively put his arm around her back and gave her a one-armed hug, he started in surprise when she grabbed him with both arms and began crying into his chest, after a few seconds he realized that this was what he needed to do in order to comfort her and began to hug her back, a real hug this time, not a fake one armed hug that would only fell awkward to the both of them. He realized suddenly that this was the first hug that he had ever gotten and it was because he accidentally made a very nice girl cry with his thoughtless words. It never occurred to him that she may have made herself cry by her own explanation, and that she was crying for him as much as for herself. After she stopped crying harry tentatively let her go and tried to apologize for making her cry. But Susan wouldn't hear of it. As she explained what had really happened,harry began to understand slightly.

"I made myself cry, Harry. I just thought of how neither of us has never known our parents."

Harry nodded in understanding.

"But why did the thought of me not having parents either make you sad? And how did you even know that? Nobody else seems to realize it."

"You don't know it but we've seen each other before today. It was five years ago. I was beginning to ask my auntie some very difficult questions about my parents, finally she couldn't avoid it any longer and she had to explain how my parents were dead. But how do you explain death to a six year old? Obviously, she found it hard to explain it in terms that I could understand. But Finally she thought of a way, as the new head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement she was privy to certain information, specifically the area where you were living. She was the only person with high enough clearance to deal with accidental magic done by the Boy-Who-Lived, because for some reason your location is top secret, not even the minister of magic knows. Anyways, one day she found an incidence of accidental magic in a park by your house."

Harry interrupted, hoping to inject some levity into the morbid conversation and cheer up his friend, "Hey I remember that day! Aunt Petunia had cut my hair in a stupid way and then took us to the park to show Dudley off to the neighbors again, I didn't want anyone to see my haircut but Mrs. Figg was sick and Aunt Petunia wouldn't let me wear a hat. She didn't notice my hair had grown back until we got home, she was so mad, I was in my cupboard for..." he trailed off, his desire to cheer up his new friend having overridden his sense of shame about his treatment for a few seconds. He desperately hoped that she wouldn't notice the cupboard comment, but she had. "For what?" She asked curiously.

Harry looked down in shame as he answered, "For two weeks."

Susan gasped in surprise and anger at the woman who would do a thing like that to such a sweet boy. Susan was sure that she would have to drag his past out of him kicking and screaming, but she would get to the bottom of the puzzle known as Harry Potter. For now she had a story to finish before she lost the nerve to tell it.

"We'll have to have a talk about that later, but for now I need to finish my story. Now, as I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me," she said with a fake glare in his direction, "Aunt Amelia had been waiting for awhile to be able to explain my parents' deaths to me and she hit on a good idea. She knew the real story, the one that was told before the journalists found out about what happened and changed it to be more heroic. So, after she'd handled the people who saw your accidental magic she went to our house and picked me up from the babysitter, saying that she wanted to take me out for lunch. The place she really took me was the park by your house. She sat me on the bench and explained to me your real story and how your parents had died as heroes, and explained what it meant for you, that you were an orphan. She then explained how my parents died in the same way, as heroes, and that I was an orphan just like you. After that she held me as I cried my eyes out for twenty minutes before she took me home and took the rest of the day off just to be with me as I grieved for my parents. I'm sorry to say it but there were times that the only thing that kept me going was the fact that I wasn't alone, that you were in the same situation I was. Whenever I felt lonely I'd remember that somewhere out there was a little boy my age who felt the same pain I did and I knew that if he could get through it then so could I."

Harry sat speechless for a second before he fully comprehended what she had been saying.

"But you didn't answer my real question. I wanted to know what you see me as? Since you have such a different reaction to seeing me." he asked quietly. "I don't feel like some amazing hero or super powered savior of the world. I don't want to be any of those things they've been saying I am. I just want to be a normal boy with normal friends going to a normal school for a normal education."

Susan looked at him for a moment as if considering how to word her answer, which indeed was exactly what she was doing.

"I really did answer your question but I did it in the way that you least expected. Here's the shortest version I can offer you. I see a boy who was alone in the world until just a few minutes ago. I see a future leader of our world. I see a boy who will never be normal, going to a school that is anything_ but_ normal, who will most likely never make normal friends and will probably never have a normal life, all because he is a wizard. I see a boy who has no idea of the implications his fame has for his life. I see a boy who isn't normal even in the magical world. But most of all, I see a boy, who is still the same as any other boy, I see you Harry, not Harry Potter the Boy-Who-Lived, I see just Harry. A boy who I would very much like to be my friend."

Harry's face had gone through so many emotions in the last fifteen seconds that it would have been funny if not for the seriousness of the conversation. After a few seconds of thoughtful contemplation, mostly to translate her words into terms he could readily understand. He looked up straight into her eyes and said four words.

"Friends it is then."

Susan was so happy that she hugged him again without realizing what she was doing. What surprised both of them was the fact that Harry didn't flinch or even try to get away as he should have, and would have even five minutes ago. They didn't realize it, but this was his monumental first step on the road to recovering from his mentally abusive relatives.

**A/N: this may be a one shot or i may continue it. i left it open for either case. if anyone wants to continue it for me then just message me your idea and i'll probably give you permission to use it along with any ideas i have for the future of this fic if i have any. **

**A/N2: yes susan seems older than 11 but she grew up with the most powerful woman in the wizarding world as her role model, of course she's going to be mature about this. she's also had 5 years to think on this stuff as well. the idea for the club nobody wants to be in is not mine but i forget where i read about it.**


	2. sorted into

**sooooo... yes i shall continue this story. maybe it's because of all the reviews and nice things you said. or maybe it's because of harvey the invisible rabbit singing journey and old show tunes at all hours of the night until i finished writing this chapter. or maybe it's the brain damage from him hitting me in the head with the cowbell...he seems to think it'll make me work faster, where in the heck did he get that idea? And now he's fighting the evil raccoon in a kung-fu death-match over who gets the last bowl of raisin bran, oops the cat gremlin got it while they were busy...by the way if the nice men in white coats come by asking for me, I was never here...oh crap he brought out the chainsaw, gotta go!**

**i definitely don't own harry potter, but the story prompt is definitely mine, i haven't found any stories like this anywhere, if anybody has let me know cuz i'd like to read them...ok fine on with the story, see if i ever try to be sociable to an invisible and massively theoretically assumed audience ever again.**

**_On the Boats sailing across the black lake_**

Susan sat in the boat with Harry and two kids who had introduced themselves earlier as Hermione and Neville, they had met on the train ride when Hermione and Neville entered their compartment looking for the boy's toad. Neither Harry or Susan had seen a toad but Susan suggested that Hermione have a friendly upper year summon it for them rather than traipse up and down the train searching for something that obviously didn't want to be found. Judging from the fact that Neville was now struggling to hold on to said amphibian the two of them had taken her advice. Susan had no idea why the boy didn't have a cage for the thing, it really would save a lot of time spent looking for it that could be used for other things.

A commotion in one of the boats behind them drew her attention away from the merits of caging certain types of pets. Apparently Ron Weasley had somehow ended up in the same boat as Draco Malfoy, they were now wrestling in the bow of the small boat, which was swaying dangerously from side to side in the water. Susan had of course known of the two boys for quite awhile, since they were all from pure blood families and were the same age it was nearly impossible for her not to know of them, but she had never officially met them until this afternoon on the train. Her auntie had protected her from the light/dark prejudices as long as possible, because she wanted to let her form her own opinions in that area rather than brainwashing her into believing one way or the other like the other pure-bloods did to their children.

Ron showed up first, asking if he could sit in their compartment citing the fact that everywhere else was full, something that was in fact a lie. Very few people would have caught him in such a lie because few knew much about the Hogwarts express other than the fact that it was a train that took the students back and forth from school.

Sadly for Ron, he just happened to tell this lie in the presence of the one student whose aunt controlled the security arrangements for the train, and in fact the train itself, which obviously meant that she knew enough to know that the boy was lying. For Susan the question then became why he was lying. So when Harry looked to her to see if she minded whether or not Ron sat in the compartment she nodded, if only to find out why he was so desperate to sit with Harry that he would resort to lying about it.

After Ron's arrival the conversation settled into a slightly awkward mix of impersonal information and Ron's ranting and boasting about Quidditch. Everything was fine until Ron asked about Harry's scar, which Susan could already tell made Harry uncomfortable and so had refrained from asking about it. Ron's question caused an awkward silence to develop, it was this awkward silence into which barged Draco Malfoy, who proceeded to make a pompous fool of himself and thoroughly piss off Ron. After they had gotten rid of Malfoy, Ron proceeded to do the same thing Malfoy had just done, which got him dragged off by his twin brothers who just happened to be nearby, amidst apologies and promises to make sure he wouldn't be repeating the same mistake again. Neither of them had any idea what Ron's brothers had done with him after they dragged him off, but somehow Ron had ended up in the same boat as Draco and their argument apparently continued where it had left off, and obviously escalated into a physical altercation.

Susan and Harry watched as the two boys' rather foolish fight caused their small and ridiculously easy to capsize boat to rock back and forth dangerously until one wrong move by the both of them caused the whole thing to tip over, dumping them, and Draco's ever present shadows Crabbe and Goyle, into the water. Suddenly tentacles grabbed the four of them, causing them to scream in fright, with the only apt comparison being a five year old girl. Meanwhile,Unnoticed by the four screaming boys, the tentacles had righted their swamped boat and placed them in it. They continued screaming for a few seconds until one of them noticed the fact that they were now in their boat again, a fact that gradually stopped their screaming until Draco was the only one left. Hagrid chuckled at their reactions, "Don't worry that was only Harvey, the giant squid, he follows the boats every year to make sure all the firs' years make it across the lake to the castle."

Hermione apparently couldn't resist asking a question, "but why is it called 'Harvey'?"

"I don't rightly know myself. A muggleborn student in the fifties started calling him that as some sort of joke, and I guess the name stuck."

Nobody said anything else until they arrived at the castle.

When they got there the students were met by Professor Mcgonagal who proceeded to explain the different houses to those students who didn't already know. She left for a short time to check that the rest of the school was ready for them. Many conversations sprang up the minute the door closed behind her, despite her warnings to be quiet. During this time Harry and Susan mostly kept to themselves in order to avoid more confrontations like those they had on the train.

**Susan's sorting**

As soon as the sorting hat went down on her head she heard the voice speaking to her in her mind.

_Ah yes, Susan Bones...you'd make a fine Hufflepuff, but I sense you belong somewhere else. Your actions on the train in befriending the young Potter boy speak of a bravery deep within. You've made yourself a very loyal friend in Mr. Potter he will stay beside you through thick and thin. He'll even likely try to follow you into whatever house you end up in. By befriending him on the train you've entwined your destiny with his, hopefully you are up to the task. I know just where to put you. And it'll mess up Albus' plans without him even noticing! Always a fun thing to see, and something that will turn out very well for Mr. Potter in the long run. However, it would be best if you didn't tell young Mr. Potter of Albus' misguided plans or your newly entwined destiny just yet. But you can be sure it will happen in **Gryffindor! **_

**That night **

Just before lights out Susan crept out of her dormitory, feigning a trip to the bathroom. Once the common room was empty she quickly penned a letter to her aunt.

_Dear Aunt Amelia, _

_I've arrived safely at Hogwarts, and been sorted into Gryffindor. _

_Sincerely,_

_Susan Bones_

_P.S. Thank-you so very much for teaching me that warming charm before sending me here. It really it drafty in this tower._

Now to any person who intercepted this letter it would seem to be just a normal correspondence between family members. But several key words hidden within the short missive would indicate to her aunt that she had more to say but had magically disguised the rest of the letter. Something taught to her by her "Grandpa" Mad-eye Moody, who had been her aunt's instructor in auror training and had helped Amelia to raise Susan after her parents died, teaching the young girl several spells she shouldn't know but could still perform despite her young age due to their low magic requirement.

Here is what the letter really said:

_Dear Aunt Amelia, _

_We made it safely to Hogwarts and as usual the security was unnecessary. I met a boy on the train who I sat with, I'm pretty sure we're friends now, but I won't know until tomorrow whether we'll stay friends or not. I hope we will, he's really nice, and REALLY cute. No I'm not thinking of him like that...Yet. I don't think of boys that way, but when I do, he's at the top of the list. The peculiar thing is exactly who he is, His name is Harry Potter, Yes He's the Boy-Who-Lived, but he's nothing like most people would think he'd be. He was Humble for one and he didn't dress like a snooty rich boy, after his first introduction in James Bond style he was suddenly down to earth, apparently I passed his test. We talked about our parents and how we're both orphans, I even told him about the day you told me about my parents, and how we saw him that day. Aunty I think there's something bad going on at his house, he talked about living in a cupboard, he accidentally told me that his relatives locked him in there once. I'm betting it wasn't a one time thing, he was way too casual about it for that. I'm worried about what will happen to him if he has to go back there. Can you please look into it for me? I want my best friend to be safe when I can't be there to help him. _

_ Oh and guess what? I was sorted into Gryffindor! The sorting hat said I was a perfect Hufflepuff except that I befriended Harry on the train. Apparently sitting with him caused our destinies to intertwine, whatever that means. The sorting hat said that someone named Albus had plans for Harry, misguided plans that won't turn out well for Harry. I know I only just met him today but I feel as if I've known him my whole life, is that bad? I think that the Albus person who was mentioned is probably the headmaster, so please be careful about investigating this, maybe Get Grandpa Mad-eye to do it since he will anyway just cause Harry's my friend, just have him be quiet about it, the sorting hat said something about messing with the plans without anyone noticing we should probably follow it's advice about that. I know I should be concentrating on school instead of this so I'll have to trust you to handle it. _

_Your loving niece,_

_Susan Bones_

Susan hadn't meant to write such a long letter to her auntie, just a quick message to let her know she got to Hogwarts safely and which house she'd been sorted into and to request an investigation into Harry's home life, since she was sure that he would never willingly admit to it. The length of her letter to her aunt came from her knowledge of reports in the auror office, her auntie was always telling her that the little details were often the most important details to remember and report back to superiors, the smallest clue could lead to a breakthrough in a case. So Susan had ended up with what amounted to an action report disguised as a letter, her "grandfather" would be proud.

Smiling wryly, Susan activated the security charm that disguised the letter and slid the whole thing into an envelope. She then put on her disillusionment cloak that her "Grandfather" had insisted on making for her, (it was basically an old cloak with a semi-permanent disillusionment charm on it and was the closest she was likely to ever come to having an actual invisibility cloak) and after once again making sure she was alone, left the common room to go send her letter, following a map drawn up for her by a fourth year. Unkown to her she had once again changed the world, this time with her choice to tell her aunt about her suspicions of Harry's situation. As soon as her aunt read her letter several chains of events would be set into motion setting the stage for massive changes to come.

**A/N:_yes i am going to continue, but the updates will not be consistent, they may come fast at first but they will slow down once the semester starts. i've got a couple of difficult classes this semester and i'll really have to concentrate on them to pass. i have plans through at least fourth year for this fic, the only question is how often i'll have time to write. _**

**_A/N 2: the reason it took so long this time is because i couldn't decide between gryffindor and hufflepuff. i finally just looked at how my first chapter had set up the story and characters and what changes were made from canon, sadly for those hoping for a hufflepuff harry story the only character that has really changes tremendously from canon was susan, and her actions pushed her into gryffindor. _**

**_ (Ron's behavior): Ron may seem slightly O/C but he isn't really, if he could so easily abandon his friendships later over a fight then he had to start somewhere, and harry didn't see him as his first friend so he won't allow him to walk all over him and his opinions or follow ron around like a little puppy,which is what the dursleys pretty much tried to turn him into for dumbledore (see below for explanation). Ron has a temper and doesn't know how to control it as well as he should. canon doesn't show it, but i'm pretty sure his comment at halloween of their first year wasn't the first time he said something like that too or about hermione. ron's character seemingly had no flaws until fourth year, probably because the author didn't notice until then, but all i did was insert that flaw he had right at the beginning. _**

**_ the dursleys: the dursleys tried to turn harry into a puppy for dumbledore, no matter the level of abuse written into the story (in my story they created abandonment issues and locked the kid into a cupboard, no hitting him, they emotionally abandoned him and pretty much ignored him if they had no chores for him to do enough to be major or evident to any teachers who don't go digging but still enough to make any self respecting and compassionate social worker remove the child from the home), one thing is usually present, harry follows other's opinions rather than his own, usually whomever he meets and befriends first. In this story it's going to start out the same except susan is going to MAKE him form his own opinions because she doesn't want a sidekick disguised as a hero to follow her around and do whatever she says, she wants a best friend, who looks to her for friendship and sometimes advice on things he doesn't understand._**

**_this is a manipulative dumbledore story but i haven' t decided how far gone the man is, he is definitely not as good as everyone thinks he is though._**


End file.
